Do you remember being required to say that when you were done with dinner as a kid? (We might not have had to say “please”. . . it isn’t sounding familiar to me, but with that degree of rudeness, why was permission even required? Never mind.)
The Redwood & Dogwood painting might be finished.
The Oak Grove Bridge might be finished.
Please, may I be excused?
Today’s painting for sale:
Sunny Sequoias XXX, 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $60 plus California sales tax of 8% (you may do the math for us)
Do you think it is “sellsy” and push to show you a painting for sale at the end of each blog post? That’s the last thing I want to be! (or maybe being sellsy and pushy would be better than being rude and not asking politely to be excused from the table. . .)
The Oak Grove Bridge on the Mineral King Road is my favorite subject to draw and paint, except when it isn’t.
I’ve been inching along on this painting for months. The angle is unusual, the details are hard to see, and the colors are somewhat difficult to discern, all of it making for tricky business.
However, I’m FINALLY getting close to finishing.
This is how it appeared when I began on this, the umpteenth day.Not sure where to begin, I charted out where the posts would go on the railing. I know there are 7 little ones between the larger ones, because I’ve done this a few (dozen) times.But what goes between those little posts? Some places it is the posts on the opposite side of the bridge, and some places it is the space beyond.Is this photo of the painting any more advanced than the previous one? Welcome to my world of the Treadmill Bridge Painting.Here I have begun to tighten up the edges on the horizontal pieces, using a yardstick while the painting is lying flat. (How do Real Artists do this?? How do plein air painters handle these challenges??)Time to begin the landscaping on the lower section.It’s growing. . .Too wet to continue. . . in the next painting session I will add lots of little green speckles in various shades.
When the little green speckles leaves are in place, I’ll sign it, photograph it, and call the lady who expressed an interest in this painting during the Redbud Festival.
Then I’ll move back to the collage commissioned oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge with Homer’s Nose. That bridge will be a straightforward angle, no tricky business.
Today’s painting is a pencil drawing of another bridge, also associated with Mineral King:
Mineral King Bridge, pencil, matted and framed to approx. 12×16, $400
After a quick start on the redwood and dogwood painting (redwoods are Sequoia Giganteas, Sequoia being the source of the name for Sequoia National Park), it was time to do my usual slow, careful, meticulous, thoughtful detailing. (Is this painting better or painting the same as I always do??)
Branches firstBlooms and leaves.More blooms and leaves.More blooms and more leaves.“Wow, you humans sure are mysterious.” Is this what Tucker is thinking, or is he wondering if there will be treats soon?Even more blooms and more leaves, along with more layers and detailing on the Sequoia.And more branches.“This is so boring I fell asleep.”More leaves on the branches.Feels done, but absolutely will need more refining and detailing and brightening and edge-sharpening before I sign it and paint the edges.
Want to buy this painting?? You may. It is 12×16″, $300 plus California sales tax of 8%, one of the highest tax rates in the nation.
The commissioned oil painting combining two Tulare County scenes feels like a mini-mural. 18×24″ is HUGE when I am accustomed to 8×10″ or 6×18″.
Often I have pondered why it is that a mural feels sort of easy because of its large size when a large oil painting feels daunting. Is it the number of layers? the level of detail? An oil painting certainly takes longer.
My customer approved of sketch #2.
Sketch #2
She is gracious and told me there is no rush. However, I am a bit of a “precrastinator”, a made-up word that is the opposite of “procrastinator”. It is much better to begin, to act as if there is a deadline, to be ready for contingencies, interruption, opportunities, and other emergencies than to just lollygag along, figuring it will get done when I FEEL like it. And losing momentum is a real risk – a customer can change his mind, or it could get too hot to paint. Besides, the sooner I finish a commissioned job, the sooner I get paid.
(There was a sign in a print shop where I used to work that said, “I work for money, not for fun; I want my money when my work is done.” I work for both.)
First, a little fun with Scout. She is sitting on Samson’s shelf. (He doesn’t need it any more. Sigh.)
Now it is time to get to work.
Such a basic beginning. I just draw the general stuff with my paintbrush.
To be sure of the shapes, sizes, proportions, and angles, it is easier to be objective when everything is upside down. The goal is to get a first layer on the canvas, something that I can correct with each successive layer.
That’s enough for the first second third fourth step of this commissioned oil painting. (The first was a conversation, the second was an exchange of photos and a sketch, the third was the second sketch with the approval to begin painting).
This is Chapter Two in the story of figuring out how to design one commissioned oil painting of two different Tulare County landmarks. As a Tulare County artist, I am pleased to have been chosen for the task.
The customer requested a different view of Homer’s Nose, and I have 5 photos from that point of view. This is the one we selected:
Homer’s Nose, from the Yokohl curve on Highway 198
She also requested a view of the Oak Grove bridge with more visible rocks (i.e. less water). If you have followed this blog or my art for very long, you know that the Oak Grove bridge is my favorite thing to draw and paint, even when it is a little bit too hard. So, I have plenty of photos to choose from for this very specific request:
Oak Grove Bridge photo by me from the same point of view, lower water so rocks more visible.
I know Spice Bush, but never heard of Mock Orange. Good thing I have friends with great photos who know far more than I do about many things.
Mock Orange, from a friend’s photo, flipped.
And a photo I have of Spice Bush, but will probably take more because it is in bloom right now and is beautiful.
Spice bush bloom
With all these visual aids, I drew this:
Sketch #2
What will my customer say in response to this second sketch? More will be revealed in the fullness of time. . . Tune in tomorrow, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.
And here are today’s paintings, both commissioned pieces of Homer’s Nose, painted in 2014, each one 6×6″.
Homer’s Nose, oil on canvas, 6×6″, private collectionHomer’s Nose, oil on canvas, 6×6″, private collection
Isn’t “figuring things out” a strange grouping of words? But we all know what that means. . . puzzling over something, trial and error, plan A and plan B, lots of conversation. . .
A long time friend asked me to do an oil painting of two significant Tulare County landmarks in her life. This is not two oil paintings; it is one painting with 2 separate scenes, a true piece of Tulare County art. I am a Tulare County artist, so why not?
I’ve been doing collage type pencil drawings for many years, but have never thought about this for oil paintings. This friend has challenged me before with other unusual ideas, and I’ve learned from her. So, here we go.
This is what she sent me first:
Homer’s Nose, a granite formation, from an unidentified magazine cover Homer’s Nose, a granite formation as viewed from another angle (from a book called To Find the Biggest Tree by Wendell D. Flint)The Oak Grove Bridge with a significant pickup crossing it.
This is what I drew for her, using colored pencils so she could get an idea of how the two subjects would blend together into one painting.
Sketch #1
Her response was that she likes the view of Homer’s Nose from another place, likes to see lots of rocks under the bridge, and would like to see some wildflowers, preferably Mock Orange or Spice Bush.
Good thing I know what she is referring to on all these subjects and have 29,000 photos on my laptop that include most of what she is wanting.
To be continued. . . meanwhile, here is today’s painting. It no longer exists, but is the first oil painting I ever did of Homer’s Nose from that other place.
Homer’s Nose from Yokohl Curve, 12×16″, oil on canvas, gone.
After a recent trip to Sequoia National Park to see the dogwood in bloom, I had a desire to paint them with a redwood tree in the background. The printed photos hadn’t yet arrived, so why not paint while looking at the computer screen? Then I began thinking about my “Paint Better” and “Sell More Paintings” goals, squishy at best, definitely not “SMART”. The idea of “Paint Better” is so vague; maybe it could mean to paint looser, just get the idea of colors, shapes, darks and lights. Maybe this would work with dogwood and redwood.
Maybe this will work. The redwood has to dry before the dogwood can go on the top. Otherwise, it might look like mudwood.
Painting of the day:
Sunny Sequoias #33, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $275.
I do set goals – finish X number of paintings, get website redesigned, finish drawings for the next calendar, etc.
But I don’t set big sweeping overarching business goals, or as one of those motivational speakers says, “BHAGs”, which stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
And many of us have heard the acronym SMART for goals, which means goals have to be Specific, Measurable, and 3 other things that I never remember.
In thinking about goals for my art business, all I could come up with is Paint Better And Sell More Paintings.
“Paint Better”? What is this? Better than what? Better than I paint now, but what constitutes better? Tighter and more photorealistic? Looser and flowier? Plein air? Brighter colors? How is this specific or measurable? How is this even attainable when I can’t define “better painting”?
And “Sell More Paintings”? I can count, and set a higher number, but am I supposed to put them in my little red wagon and pull them around the neighborhood? Must I get a smartphone and join FaceBook? (Have mercy – Please please please don’t make me get a cell phone and join FaceBook!!)
I have no earthly idea how to sell more paintings. If I did, I’d be selling more.
Goalless suits me for now.
I wonder what all those motivational speakers would have to say to me . . . probably “Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you”.
I am painting better each time I revisit this oil painting of the Oak Grove Bridge that is too hard for me. I am making up some colors for the background, just experimenting, trying to learn what “better” might look like, outside of my natural bent to just make things look as realistic as possible.
Will it sell? Maybe if I chant to myself while painting, “Paint better, sell more paintings, paint better, sell more paintings…”
Perhaps it is time to listen to music instead of motivational speakers while I paint.
June 30 will be here quickly. That is the date for the Mineral King art show that I will be participating in with 3 other artists at the Silver City Store.
Heat will be here quickly too, so I need to finish these oil paintings before it is time to turn on the swamp cooler and swat mosquitoes while painting.
Sawtooth, enough for now.Farewell Gap at the beginning of a painting of the end of summer.Farewell Gap looking better.Better yet. . .Farewell Gap finished?Timber Gap with lupine, finished?Eagle Lake, begunEagle Lake, more work ahead.
In order to recover from the ordeal of my wrastling match (yep, that’s the way it is said in Tulare County – we are the same folks who say “warsh” for “wash”, and sometimes we say “crick” instead of “creek”) with the Kaweah Post Office oil painting, I enjoyed the yard a bit. By “enjoy”, I mean that I took a few photos and pulled a mountain of weeds.
Then it was time to get back at it, “it” being the easels. Been lollygagging around recently, so I am having to parent myself rather vigorously in order to finish my responsibilities. (“But I DON’T WANNA!”)
Here is a batch of Mineral King paintings in their ugly stages, but improving slightly.
Oops. Forgot to take the before photo of this one.
Now that’s a real unusual way to portray Sawtooth. Whatsa matter, Central California Artist? Are you getting tired of painting Sawtooth like regular folks?
Well, I’ll be! If it ain’t another Sawtooth painting!
You think this oil painting of Eagle Lake is a mess? You ought to see that sorry excuse of a trail!
This one’ll be real purdy when you get them wildflowers in it.
Ahem. Something seems to have taken over the captions of my photos today. Sounds like a Tulare County native speaker.
Maybe this will work. The redwood has to dry before the dogwood can go on the top. Otherwise, it might look like mudwood. 
Is “goalless” a word? 
